Number 1 - National Center for Science Education

Moore Biological Sciences Curriculum Study
The history of the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study (BSCS) can be traced to the October
1957 launch of the Soviet satellite Sputnik, which awakened the American political and
educational establishment to the importance of improving science education. The following
year, Congress passed the National Defense Education Act, which encouraged the National
Science Foundation (NSF) to develop state-of-the-art science textbooks. In the same
year, NSF allocated $143 000 to establish the BSCS to educate “Americans in general to the
acquisition of a scientific point of view.” By 1959, BSCS had established its headquarters at
the University of Colorado.
In the early 1960s, BSCS created new biology textbooks that, unlike other textbooks,
stressed concepts rather than facts, and investigations rather than lectures. The three BSCS
books published in 1963 became known by the color of their covers: Blue emphasized
molecular biology, Green emphasized ecology, and Yellow emphasized cellular and developmental
biology. Approximately 70% of the content of each book was identical, but
the material was presented using different themes. Although BSCS wanted to avoid the
criticism that it was trying to establish a national curriculum, their books–for all practical
purposes–did exactly that, for in the 1960s, most schools used BSCS textbooks.
When John Scopes was convicted of teaching human evolution in 1925, publishers feared
that discussing evolution in biology textbooks would hurt sales. As a result, biology textbooks
published after Scopes’s conviction did not include the word evolution. However,
BSCS books were different. Instead of relying on professional writers to prepare their textbooks,
BSCS recruited the best scientists and teachers in the United States. Not surprisingly,
all of the BSCS books stressed evolution. Today, BSCS is credited with putting evolution
back into the biology curriculum. BSCS books were an agent in the US Supreme Court’s
ruling that laws banning the teaching of human evolution are unlawful (for example, Epperson
v Arkansas), as well as in cases involving issues such as instruction about human
reproduction and the use of live animals in biology classrooms. Some states, such as Texas
(in 1970) and Kentucky (in 1965), banned the BSCS books. Evangelists such as Reuel Lemmons
of Austin condemned the textbooks as attacks on Christianity (Engelman 2001).
Today, BSCS is a non-profit corporation headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colorado,
that continues to develop high-quality science curriculum materials for all grade levels,
including high school biology, while also designing and leading professional development
in support of effective science teaching and conducting research on both curriculum and
professional development. BSCS materials have been printed in more than 25 languages
for use in more than 60 countries. Since its inception, more than 20 million students have
used BSCS materials.
r e F e r e n c e s
Engelman L. 2001. The BSCS Story: A History of the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study. Colorado
Springs (CO): Biological Sciences Curriculum Study.
A b o u t th e Au thor
Randy Moore is the HT Morse–Alumni Distinguished Professor of Biology at the University of Minnesota.
His most recent book (with coauthor Sehoya Cotner) is Understanding Galápagos: What
You’ll See and What It Means (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2003).
RNCSE 33.1, 1.2 22
January-February 2013